


Their First Three Dates

by Mjazilem



Series: Lie Low [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Angst, Coffee Shops, Developing Relationship, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Diego Hargreeves-centric, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eudora Patch Lives, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Diego Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Light Whump, Mentioned Ben Hargreeves, No Incest, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Season 2 continued, Sibling Bonding, Stuttering Diego Hargreeves, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26204683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mjazilem/pseuds/Mjazilem
Summary: In the new timeline with a new identity Diego runs into Eudora Patch, alive and well and interested in meeting him for coffee sometime. After some angsty debating on his end over whether he should or shouldn't see her again he decides to go.  He has to go, right?Is it a date?  Is it just coffee?  Everyone has an opinion.ora sequel to Lie Low because I needed some more sibling interaction and wanted some fluff and angst with Diego and Patch.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Everyone, Diego Hargreeves/Eudora Patch
Series: Lie Low [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903048
Comments: 33
Kudos: 83





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a lot of Diego and Patch and talking over coffee and a very slow burn. 
> 
> This picks up right after the end of Lie Low and I would suggest reading that first or at least the end of it to get an idea as to where this is starting. 
> 
> Happy Reading!

**Prologue**

Everyone been tooling around the house, since Diego left earlier. He said he was going for a drive, they all knew he would wind up checking out the gym.

Klaus had spent some time reading, watching some tv, looking aimlessly through a gossip magazine that someone had grabbed last time they got groceries. He was trying to stay busy and trying to stay out of trouble and sober.

He was doing pretty well... so far.

He'd latched onto Diego the past couple weeks since neither one of them was really leaving the house.

Klaus gazes longing out the front window, if Diego came back with the van maybe they could go do something.

He is surprised to see when he looks towards the front step, “Hey I didn't know Diego was back.” He calls back into the house where Allison is telling Luther not to over tighten the screws holding the door hinge to the door jamb and Vanya is making lemonade.

Klaus opens the front door. “Hey Diego what are ya doing out here on the porch buddy?”

He's just sitting on the porch steps doing nothing.

“Do you want to go to...” Klaus starts and Diego turns towards him. The look in his eyes is so shellshocked and dazed that Klaus stops talking mid sentence and sinks to the step next to his brother.

“You ok?”

“Yeah f fine.” Diego drags his hands over his face and sighs. “fine.” He sounds like he's trying to convince himself.

Klaus looks Diego over and thinks he doesn't look particularly fine.

He's not sure what to do about that but he figures maybe Diego needs a distraction from whatever is bother him and if Klaus could get out of the house while distracting his brother it would be win win for them both. “Do you want to go to the store? Five said we could get cookie dough?”

Klaus looks from Diego to the street.

Then he looks up and down the street in front of the house. Then he cranes his next to see a block down. “Hum, Diego, where's the van?”

“What?” Diego at him and seems genuinely confused.

“You took the van where is it?” Klaus asks softly.

Diego looks around and it dawns on him it's not here, he took it out and walked back.

His eyes get big and Klaus gets up, opens the front door and calls back into the house. “Diego lost the Van!'

Diego starts to protest.

He tries to get up off the step he's sitting on, but his mostly healed left leg has been over worked and gives out. He sits back down hard on the step.

The four other siblings are quickly on the porch.

“What's happened?” Vanya seems confused.

“Diego are you ok?” Luther isn't sure why his brother is sitting on the porch while everyone else is standing.

“Where is the van?” Five cuts to the chase.

“Are you hurt?” Allison asks concerned.

“The v v van is fine, it should be...” He digs out keys from his pocket and holds them up. “It's parked by the g g gym.” Five takes the keys and vanishes.

“Did you walk home?” Allison asks still trying to piece together what's happened.

Diego nods and looks down at his hands.

“Why did you walk home?” Vanya asks, knowing it wasn't a great idea.  
  


Diego runs his hands back through his hair. “I don't know... I I I just n needed to get some air.”

“hum ok so you walked like three miles on a bum leg?” Klaus looks disbelieving now, he's not got much right to, he's done enough stupid stuff himself.

“I just for forgot, it's no big deal.” Diego uses the railing to pull himself up and luckily it's one thing at the house that isn't rickety and it holds.

“Luther would you help him?” Allison asks.

Luther steps over to offer support but Diego pulls his arm back out of his brother's reach. “I'm f fine.”

They all back off as he limps slowly into the house.

Diego gets inside and realizes he doesn't really even have a room to go to, not one of his own. He's not going to sit on the couch and try to be alone.

Instead he goes into the office and shuts the door.

There's dim light coming from the window in the room and he leaves the other lights off.

The security TVs are on in the room.

He can see his siblings out on the porch talking about him probably, they probably think he's nuts.

His throbbing leg makes him want to agree. He turns away from the TVs and puts his head in his hands.

After he'd left the gym he just needed to process it all.

Needed to process seeing Eudora and what it meant and what he should do and it was all just so much... he just started walking and honestly he just completed spaced on the fact that he'd left the van behind.

It was all just a lot.

“Diego?” He can hear Allison and Klaus outside the office door. “Diego talk to us.”

“What happened? Did you go to the gym?”

Diego puts his head down on the desk and doesn't answer.

It gets quiet outside the door. They must decide to leave him alone for now.

He really didn't mean to worry them.

He didn't mean to mess up.

Thoughts swirl through his mind. 'What do I do? Do I go back? Do I see her again? Do I stay away?'

He doesn't know the right answer... he does know it hurts to think about not seeing her again.

He sits there thinking for a while.

So time later he hears a soft knock at the door and raises his head off the desk. It really has been a while, it's gotten darker outside. There's really only the glow of the TVs for light in the room now.

“Diego, dinner's ready if you want to join us, or if you don't want to I could bring you some.” Vanya speaks through the door.

He pauses, unsure, but he makes a decision.

“I'm coming” He gets up and sorely crosses the floor.

* * *

Diego gets to the kitchen and practically falls into the nearest chair.

Everyone is in the kitchen and they are all very purposefully trying to keep the mood light when Diego takes a seat.

Klaus places a pizza box on the table and opens it with a flourish. Then Five set another on the table.

Diego is surprised to see the pizza Klaus placed in front of him is plain cheese.

They never get plain cheese, there's always a fight over toppings. They always end up getting a bunch of stuff... half olives and onion, half sausage and peppers and mushrooms and Diego who feels like cheese pizza is all you need is always left picking something off the top of his pizza, just so everyone else won't grumble.

Luther slides a plate in front of him and sets them in front of the other chairs as Allison sets out drinks and they all take their seats and start grabbing slices.

Diego slowly sits forward and puts a slice of cheese on his plate.

Everyone digs in.

He takes a bite. It tastes good but there's something he needs to get off his chest before he can really enjoy it.

He sets his piece down.

“She was there.”

Everyone looks at him. They stop eating, Vanya stops with her piece of pizza half way to her mouth.

Luther swallows hard. “Who was where? What?”

Diego looks down the table at him. “I went to the gym... Patch, she w was there.”

He looks back down at his pizza.

Luther looks at Allison and then Five, unsure what Diego is talking about. Vanya isn't sure either but Allison clears it up.

“Your friend, the one the cops thought you murdered?”

Diego nods.

“Lady Cop is Alive!” Klaus says excitedly. Excited for his brother. Excited that the lady cop who was trying to help rescue him from Hazel and Cha Cha was alive.

Diego sighs.

“That's so great.” Allison smiles at him. But he doesn't seem happy about it.

His eyes look worried.

“Well did you talk to her? What happen?” Five asks picking up his pizza again.

Diego got the faintest smile on his face. “yyyeahhh” He breathes out.

“ooohhhhh.” Klaus teases.

Diego's smile fades. “S she asked me to get coffee.”

“Ohhh Lady Cop making moves on Diego!”

“Eudora, her name is Eudora Patch.” Diego states.

“Are you going to go?” Luther asks before biting into his slice again.

“I... how can I?”

“What do you mean?”

Diego takes a deep breath.

“I held her dead body in my arms. She died because I wasn't there to help her. She's here in this t t timeline a a a alive, what if I get her killed? She doesn't deserve that.”

“Oh Diego...” Allison doesn't know what to say.

“I can't be responsible for her death again.” He says softly.

But she does know this. “You weren't the first time.”

Five speaks up when Diego starts to shake his head. “She was a cop it was her job to investigate, she made the decision to go in without backup. That wasn't your fault.”

“Don't talk about her like that.”

Allison tries to be gentle. “It's true Diego, she knew what she was doing, from everything you've said, she was a smart lady. She made her choice. It wasn't your fault, you need to know that.”

Klaus has a question and asks it as soon as the serious talk settles. “What was she doing at the gym?”

“Working there.” Diego sounds surprised.

“SO she's not a cop here! That's excellent.” Klaus says excitedly.

“well, I guess.”

“You should go...” Vanya speaks up.

“What?”

“Would it make you happy to see her again?” Vanya asks him.

“Yeeesss.” He looks suspicious.

“Did she want to see you again?”

“Yes.”

“Then you should go. This is a new timeline, there's nothing that says what happened before will happen here.”

They all agree with Vanya's statement.

Diego is quiet for a moment, unsure. Then he asks. “But what if it changes? The timeline? What if it changes again?”

Five looks at him and offers the only comfort he can. “Well then at least you got a little more time with her.”

Diego pauses and thinks then nods, a little more time was better than no time he supposes.

He picks up his pizza and chews thoughtfully.

The conversation goes on around him, he's too deep in thought to follow along.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A phone call and a date/not date/just coffee... Diego tries to be cool and it's Patch who keeps putting her foot in her mouth and timelines are weird

The next day he calls her on the house phone in the kitchen.

The number she'd given him was surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, the same as the one he has memorized from the old timeline.

He'd gone over and over what he wanted to say in his head, had even found himself practicing in the mirror. 'Hi Patch it's Diego, Hi Patch it's Diego, Hi Patch it's Diego... when's a good time to grab coffee... Do you want to get coffee... do you want to go out?' He kicks himself for sounding like some kind of nervous fifteen year old but he's not sure how else to do it.

Finally he calls and all of his scripting and forethought gets thrown out the window.

She picks up on the second ring. “Who am I talking to?” She asks in a serious voice that takes him by surprise.

“Diego, it's hum Diego...” He answers quickly.

Quickly her tone totally changes after her initial question. “Diego! Hi, I'm so glad you called!”

“Yeah...” he starts again and intends to ask her about coffee, she beats him to it.

“You want to grab some coffee tomorrow afternoon? I can duck out of the gym at like 3:00.”

“Hum sure, yeah that w works.”

“Great meet me at the gym, there's a great little coffee place a couple blocks over, we can walk.”

“Ok.”

“See you tomorrow!”

“tomorrow.” He agrees and then it's over, she hangs up the phone and he's left looking at the receiver he's holding.

Vanya peeks around the doorway. “so how'd it go?”

Diego hangs up the phone.

Vanya is followed by Klaus. “Is it a date?”

Diego narrows his eyes at them. “It's just coffee, it's not a date.”

“When is this 'just coffee, not a date?'” Klaus jumps up and sits on the kitchen counter and Vanya smiles at Diego like she knows he's splitting hairs.

Diego sighs, he knows this is going to get him more attention from his siblings than he would like. “tomorrow afternoon.”

* * *

He's gotten a few new clothes over the past couple weeks

Well Allison's bought him a few new clothes. He picks out an outfit on Friday that he thinks is suitable to get coffee in... black jeans, black t-shirt, his black boots.

Allison and Klaus both separately suggest he put on the new blue button-up he's got. Diego decides against it, he thinks it's too much. Nobody says anything else.

He borrows the van and promises he will bring it back this time.

He watches the time, he wants to be early but not too early. He gets parking close by the gym and waits.

A few minutes before three he heads into the gym. He walks in and sees a familiar face. He should have prepared for this but he'd been so focused on Patch he forgot there was a good chance he'd see Al too.

Al is standing behind the front desk, he looks well, he looks like he did, in his element in an old 'rough around the edges' gym.

As Diego walks in Al eyes him. He is very obviously not in gym clothes and hasn't got a bag so he doesn't look like he's there to workout. “You here for Patch, kid?”

Diego moves into the room, he feels awkward, it's weird to not be known by someone he's known for year. “Yeah, I'm meeting ...” He almost says 'detective' but stops himself. “Patch.”

“You know...” Al speaks lowly so Diego understands the weight of his words. “you step out of line she can knock you on your ass right.”

“Right,” Diego blinks, then nods in total agreement, he knows she can.

“And if you do anything to her there's a gym full of fighters who consider her one of there own and will not hesitate to knock your block into next Tuesday.” Al doesn't mince words.

“I understand Sir.” Diego can't help but smile, Patch does bring that out in people, she certainly had in him.

Of course, it is wild to see Al getting protective over Patch. I

t's weird having two parts of his past come together like this, it's like a crossover episode of a TV show or something.

“Patch...” The old man calls over his shoulder to the office. “Your date is here.”

Diego feels his face start to heat up... “I... it's just coffee.” Diego blinks at the gruff man's insinuation.

“Yeah sure kid...” Al smirks at him. “Don't think I've seen you around here before, what did you say your name was?”

“I didn't... Diego Harrison.” Diego offers his hand and Al shakes it.

“Diego Harrison...” Al pauses. “the Diego Harrison?” Al doesn't let Diego's hand go and instead looks very seriously at him, Diego's eyes get big, he tries to figure out what Al's going on about. “You're not yanking my chain are you kid? I don't appreciate it.”

“nnooo.” Diego says a little concerned with what his answer is going to bring, Al's still got hold of his hand.

“Well holy shit kid,” Al puts both hands on top of Diego's and shakes his hand vigorously, much to Diego's surprise, and then finally lets him go. “good to meet ya, saw you fight a couple times back a few years back. Eudora... Eudora” He calls back to her. She appears in the office doorway, dressed in street clothes, shoulder sling backpack on, ready to go. “Why didn't you tell me you were going on a date with the Kraken?”

“One, don't call me that and two, what?” She asks.

Diego thinks her indignant nose scrunch is the cutest, he also thinks this timeline stuff is weird.

Al looks back at her. “Don't play dumb, you know the Kraken, The... Kraken, you've seen tapes of his fights.”

“The only thing I know is I'm going to get coffee with Diego Harrison.” She gestures at Diego, who is standing looking a bit dumbfounded at the moment.

Al rolls his eyes. “Yeah cause there's so many Diego Harrisons around here, it's such a common name, why assume the one in the boxing gym is the boxer.” He says sarcastically and throws his hands up exasperated.

Patch just shrugs, she has an amused smile on her face when she turns to Diego.

Diego looks at her and looks at Al and is amazed at whatever it is that's happening in front of him.

Patch moves from behind the counter to stand next to him. “Hey.” She greets him. He nods feeling suddenly shy. “Al, you good to run the place without me?”

“Yeah, been doing it since you were in diapers Patch, I think I can handle it.” He snarks back.

“Ok then, we're heading out.” She moves towards the door and Diego follows.

Al calls after him. “Hey Diego, whether this date thing works out or not, come by the gym again... you wanna coach, you wanna spar, we'll put you through your paces, we've got some great fighters here.”

Diego turns back, still not believing this Al. “Oh hum... uh yeah sure, hum, thanks, thanks Al.”

Patch opens the door to the gym and Diego follows her out. “Don't mind him,” She says in a hushed tone as they leave. “he is a really big fan though, you should come back and check out the gym, he'd love it.”

“A fan of me..?” Diego blinks.

“What you thought everybody forgot about you?” They start walking down the sidewalk. “You had a really great run, you should have gone pro, I don't know why you didn't. Al plays tapes of your fights for the fighters in training. You were impressive.”

He raises a scarred eyebrow. “I'm still impressive.” He informs her.

“I'm sure you are.” She snorts, not letting him get away with trying to be smooth.

“You're impressive.” He says softly with a smile.

“Why thank you, Kraken, or is it 'the Kraken' or do you prefer Mr. Kraken?” She jokes.

“Just Diego works fine.”

“Ok Diego.” She gestures to the door to the coffee shop.

It's not a place he knows from the other timeline. Even if it had been there it wasn't like he really spent a lot of time in quaint little coffee shops.

He opens and holds the door for her.

The inside is nice, comfortable, the lighting is dim and he doesn't mind the smell of coffee even though he doesn't think that's what he'll order. Five can keep the coffee, he thinks he'll get tea.

They stand in front of the counter and look up at the menu.

“Have you been here before?” She asks him.

“No, what do you like to get?” There's a lot on the menu and he doesn't know how fast he can figure it all out.

She's got her order down. “I'm going to get a medium, hot, half caff, half sweet, hazelnut Macchiato.”

Diego nods at what she says even though he's not sure what it means, he really doesn't want to try and repeat it.

“What about you?” She asks as the line advances and they get one customer closer to ordering.

“Maybe... a hot tea.” He says still looking at the menu and trying to find it.

“What kind of hot tea?” She points to a section on the right and he can see now where it says 'teas.'

“hum...” He can also see there is indeed more than one to pick from. “ I I don't know.”

“Do you like black tea or green tea?”

“Both?” at least he thinks he does.

She thinks for a second. “Have you had matcha?”

“What?” Diego doesn't know what she's talking about.

“They have a good matcha green tea latte here.” She explains like that clears things up for him. It doesn't.

“Oh ok...”

“I'm buying so why not be adventurous.” She encourages and the line shifts.

“Y your buying?” He knows he wasn't thinking about it was a date but he didn't expect her to pay.

“Yes.”

“b but.”

“Don't throw any chivalry bs at me. I asked you to come, so I'll pay.” She's insistent.

Diego opens his mouth and closes it again he's not going to fight her about it. He was going to suggest that he called her but even then she'd been the one to set it up the time and place.

Finally it's their turn.

Eudora steps up to the counter and orders for both of them... Diego isn't sure what he's getting, he'll try whatever she gets him, he doesn't care, he's just happy to be here.

Once she's paid they move down and stand at the end of the counter to wait for their drinks. Diego tries to be cool. “Do you come here a lot?”

Patch shrugs. “It's close and the coffee is decent so yeah, I'm here on my lunch break pretty often. I don't always splurge on fancy coffee though, I do make my own at home in the morning, it's not as good as here though.”

Diego hums and gets pulled into a memory.

He remembers Eudora's coffee, it wasn't bad, for coffee. She definitely made it strong and it was good if you needed to wake up. He remembers the last time she shared her's with him and that dredges up all kinds of emotions... loosing mom, loosing Patch.

He breathes in sharply when he realizes he's spaced out for a second. Luckily their drinks have arrived and Eudora is thanking the barista and handing him his cup.

“t thanks.” He says, holding onto the warm cup like an anchor.

“There's a table over there.” She points across the room to one in the back corner. He follows her.

They sit and he angles his chair out a bit so he can see more of the room, just in case. She doesn't seem concerned to have her back to the door. That's a change from the Patch he knew, but not necessarily a bad change, it means she feels safe in her surroundings.

He takes the lid off of his paper cup so it will cool down some and he can drink it and he sees for the first time that whatever she's ordered him is bright green.

He's not sure why it's bright green.

His eyes must get big because she speaks up.

She smiles behind her cup. “I promise it's good.”

He gives her a look “I'm gonna h hold y you to that.”

She sets her cup down and looks at him intently “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah sure.” He consents even though he's not sure what's coming.

“Do I make you nervous?”

“What?”

“My mother says I intimidate guys. I think that's just stupid but I can't help but notice you kind of look off to the side and you stammer and... I don't know, am I making you nervous?”

When he'd met Patch her mother had had a problem with her being into the police academy, being in a masculine job, she probably felt similar about Eudora working in a boxing gym in this timeline.

He shakes his head. He is nervous but it's not because she's intimidating, he'd always liked that she was a strong woman.

“No no... I have a... well I... have a stutter.” He really thought it was pretty subtle today, he hadn't gotten majorly hung up on anything words but she's always been observant.

“Oh God...” Eudora blushes. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so forward. I didn't mean to put you on the spot.”

“I I'm sorry.” He apologizes because it feels like the right thing to do.

“What are you sorry for? You shouldn't be sorry... isn't stuttering like a neurological... hum developmental disorder or something? Not something that's your fault.”

Diego quirks an eyebrow. That's definitely different than what he's heard before.

'A short coming' 'a weakness' 'a liability' 'a thing he needed to better about himself.'

He'd heard a lot of things from Reginald about his stutter and even his mom had said it was something he needed to work at and practice to fix. No one had ever said words like neurological or developmental to him.

No one had ever said he shouldn't be sorry about it.

Patch shakes her head. “My mom always says I ask too many questions. I can't help it... at least it makes me a good reporter.”

“You're a ah reporter?” He's surprised by her again.

“Yeah, part time for the city paper. That's where I heard about stuttering actually,” She takes a sip of her coffee and continues. “my co-worker, he's got a brother with a stutter. He said there's still research being done to understand it and treat it but sometimes it can be a combination of factors like environmental and genetic.”

“Genetic?” That's something else he's not been told.

“Yeah like if someone in your family has a stutter there's a greater chance of you having a stutter. Does anyone else in your family have a stutter?” She asks matter of factly.

“I don't know,” he admits, “I'm adopted.”

He turns the information over in his head, he's going to have to look into a few things.

“Adopted... I'm going to stop putting my foot in my mouth at some point this afternoon.” She breathes out. “Now, I'm nervous.”

He shakes his head he didn't mean for things to turn serious or for things to get awkward. “Don't be, I'm not upset.” He decides to shift the conversation from him and asks about her. “Tell me, how did you wind up working for Al?”

“Ahhh, it's not much of a story...” She looks relived to shift to a lighter topic.

Diego takes the opportunity to bravely try his bright green drink.

It's not really like anything he's had before... it's different than regular green tea. It's sweet but earthy. It's not bad, pleasant even.

“My dad wanted me to take a self defense class and Al's gym was offering one. I took that class and then begged my parents to let me take another and then boxing instruction and I just never left.”

He could see his Patch getting excited about learning to take care of herself. This Patch was very much the same, she definitely strikes him as someone who wants to be independent.

“Do you fight?” He wouldn't mind watching her kick some ass.

“I don't compete.” She shakes her head. “Sometimes I get in the ring and spar for fun. I help run the gym, I help coach the newbies. I enjoy coaching, I don't enjoy getting punched in the face.”

He nods and puts the lid back on his tea and sips it. “I get that.” That wasn't his favorite part either.

“What got you into boxing?” She asks him.

It's a logical question.

He knows now that whatever Herb and the commission did in this timeline made it so they know him. Al and Patch they've heard of the boxer Diego Harrison. They even remember seeing him fight.

He can't tell her that his father made him learn to box when he was little and fight his siblings in preparation for fighting criminals. Luckily he'd come up with some details to fill out his backstory on his own.

“ummm I started boxing as a a a kid, there was a gym t t that had a program for 'at risk' youths.” It seemed plausable.

“Oh... and were you?” She asks.

“What?” He doesn't follow.

“At risk?” She leans on the table her hands wrapped around her cup.

“Oh, hum I don't... know... I guess, someone thought so... I was in foster care and wasn't doing so great in school.”

It felt odd to say but he supposes he could relate, he was never in a normal home and he was never a great student not compared to some of his siblings. He was certainly 'at risk' living at the academy.

“Aaahhh, well I glad you found boxing.” Patch says and he knows she's sincere.

He's glad for his backstory, if only because it let him find her.

She sits back and pulls out a little spiral notebook from her bag. “What gym was it that you started at? Was it in the city? It sounds like a really interesting program.... are they still doing it? We could do something like that at our gym, I could talk to Al about it.”

She sounds enthusiastic, Diego wishes he could tell her but he can't answer those questions. He thought he'd been pretty thorough with his backstory, apparently not thorough enough for Patch.

Somehow that doesn't surprise him.

Diego starts to open his mouth and make some kind of excuse. Nothing sounds quite right in his head.

“I... I'll I'll have to get... aahhh back to you on t that.” He hopes that seems reasonable it was after all, a long time ago in his backstory.

She nods and makes a note in her notebook, maybe to ask Al if they could have a program like that.

Diego shifts in his seat and stretches his left leg out with a grimace. They'd been sitting a while and his leg was starting to protest.

Patch notices as she puts her stuff back in her bag. “You ok?”

“Yeah yeah, still just a bit sore.”

“Getting over an injury, right. Did you pull a muscle or something?” She is familiar with all kinds of strains and sprains from the gym.

Diego looks at her and with a deadpan expression says. “I got stabbed.”

“uh you what?” Patch looks at him in disbelief. “How did you get stabbed... in the leg?”

He rubs at his scarred eyebrow as he explains. He was Five had worked up this story. “Well I work as a Private Detective, my last case involved tracking down this crazy old rich guy, who was into some shading business, for his kids. The old guy got violent.” Diego shrugs.

Patch is still looking at him like he's nuts. “Are you alright? Are you in danger now?”

“No... no.” He straightens up in his chair, he didn't mean to scare her. “It's been handled.”

Mostly handled, Five is working on it and Dad and the Sparrow Academy haven't come after them in the month since they'd been here so he doesn't think he's in any immediate danger. He wouldn't have agreed to meet with Patch if he thought he was.

He is of course always carrying knives on him in case anything does happen.

She looks at him thoughtfully, no doubt wondering if he's telling the truth. “How many stitches did you get?” she asks curiously.

He swallows thickly at the thought. “Enough.”

He thinks about the needle going through his skin. He was really glad to be knocked out for the stitches this time. Just the thought makes the color drain from his face.

Patch looks at him and asks “Do you wanna get some some air?”

  
He agrees.

They grab their drinks and make their way outside.

The breeze feels good, he starts to feel like he's not going to have a needle induced panic attack.

They walk back towards the gym, at his pace. His leg feels stiff and aches a bit, he walks slowly she doesn't seem to mind.

“You better?” She smiles at him. “The color's come back to you lips.”

He clears his throat, embarrassed. “hum yeah, sorry...”

She shakes her head. “What is it? It can't be the blood, you're a boxer. So what the stitches do you not like needles?”

He stops and closes his eyes trying to breath through the wave of panic he feels. He steads himself breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. Stupid phobia, he needs to work on his tolerance.

“Sorry, sorry.” She reaches out and touches his shoulder. “I didn't mean too...”

He breathes deeply once more. “I know, I'm good...”

“I guess we should call it a night, or an evening? An afternoon, I've lost track of time. Whatever time it is, I had fun.” She chuckles.

“Me too.” He tells her... he means it.

“We could do this again sometime... I'll try next time not to put my foot in my mouth... to much.” She looks sweetly at him.

He wants to tell her she's amazing and wonderful, she lights up any room she steps in and he's missed her so so much. He wants to hold her in his arms and keep her safe and never let her go. He wants to sweep her off her feet and kiss her like he's never kissed her before.

He knows he can't.

He knows he has to appreciate this time he's been give even if it means starting over.

Getting to know each other all over again.

“It'll be fun. I t think we ssshould definitely do this again.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the coffee shop, more backstory including about scars, a different tea for Diego and a little bit of Klaus goes a long way

Diego has a feeling he knows what's coming when he gets in the house.

And sure enough as soon as he gets in the questions start.

“How was the first date?” Five asks when Diego walks in the front door and tosses him the van keys.

“It wasn't a date, it was just coffee.” Diego insists.

Klaus chimes in from the kitchen. “He doth protest too much me thinks...”

“Bite me.” Diego shoots back at him.

“Ok, alright,” Allison tries to smooth things over. “but really, tell us, how was it?”

Diego steps into the kitchen. He's really not one for sharing. Hell, he's still processing it all himself.

What he can say with some certainty:

“Good, it was good.” He smiles a small quiet smile to himself as he thinks about it.

Then Klaus and Luther are arguing over what to make for dinner, Allison is suggesting they just order in, Vanya is compromising saying it's an 'everyman for himself' kind of night and everyone has moved on to the next thing.

Diego is glad for the distraction.

* * *

On Sunday just before three when Diego steps back into Al's gym.

There's people working out and sparing. It's buzzing.

He steps in and stands in the lobby. There's nobody at the counter today. He breathes a sigh of relief.

He looks around for Patch. He cranes his neck to try and see if she's in the office. He can't tell so he settles for just standing and waiting.

She said she'd be ready at three when he called her.

He can wait.

He tries not to be too awkward. He looks at the pictures and posters on the wall of the lobby area.

He's examining an old class photo closely, he's pretty sure that Patch is one of the long haired kids in it when he feels eyes on him.

He turns and finds it not Patch who's looking.

There are two kids not quite in their teens. Possibly some of the young fighters Patch was talking about before. They're standing there looking at him, one's got a juice box.

Diego looks at them. “What?” He asks feeling unsure, he's not crazy about being watched. He starts feeling defensive.

“Cool scars man.” the juiceless kid comments.

  
Diego opens his mouth but he's not sure what to say to that. He doesn't usually get compliments on his scars. He's saved from having to figure out how to respond when Patch steps out of the office. “Hey Diego.” She greets him excitedly. “Convers, Aidel this is Diego.”

One kids mouth drops open and the other kid points at Diego with his juice box.

“This is him? This is the guy?” The pointing kids asks.

“uh hu.” Patch nods.

“Whoa.” The kid looks like that means something to him.

Diego looks at little uncertain about the attention, maybe they're some of the kid's Al showed his fights to.

“Go on, shouldn't you be warming up.” Patch tells the kids and they look from her to Diego and back again and then run off.

“See you guys later.” She calls back into the gym as they head to the door.

He follows her.

“How's the stab wound?” She asks.

He straightens up does his best to walk without a hitch in his step. “I'm not going to run a marathon any time soon but it's good, it's better.”

They walk side by side. He's agreed to go to the coffee shop again, it seemed as good a place as any and he knew what he was in for going so it felt like an easy place to go.

“How's the gym today?” He nods back towards it and she smiles.

“Today was actually pretty chill, work was good... of course Al has spread the word, I think the whole gym knows I'm out with the Kraken right now.” She groans dramatically.

Diego groans in his mind too. He was hoping in this timeline to not be some kind of weird novelty quasi celebrity, no such luck apparently.

Diego keeps his hands in his pockets as they walk back to the coffee shop for a second coffee date/not date.

“What have you been up to?” She asks.

“Nothing much, took my bother to the store he wanted to get peas and carrots and Go-Gurt.” Diego says matter of factly as they stroll leisurely down the sidewalk.

Patch waits for him to finish his sentence, like there must be more. There's not.

“That's it?” She finally asks. Diego raises his eyebrows and nods knowing how weird it sounds. “Why in the world?”

“I don't know, It's just Klaus.” he explains.

Patch shakes her head. “Sounds like a character.”

“You have no idea.” Diego smiles knowingly.

“So Klaus, he's adopted to?”

Diego nods adopted, bought, same difference. “We were all adopted by the Harrisons.”

“And there are six of you, right.”

“Yeah...”

“That must have been fun having such a big family growing up.”

“I don't know if I'd call it fun... interesting... I guess.”

'Interesting...”

“and it was only till I was … twelve, then our adoptive parents were killed in a car accident and we went back into the system.”

Or the next year the shit show because an even bigger shittier show when their dad started having them actually fight grown criminals, and Five disappeared and everything went from bad to worse.

“Foster care, right?” She clarifies.

“yeah.” He opens the door for her and they head into the coffee shop. It's a little more crowded this this afternoon.

“Gosh.” She stops just inside the door and turns to him like something dawns on her. “Were you in the car when the accident happened? were you hurt?”

Diego turns to her and traces the scar on the side of his head. With his hair cut short again it's very visible.

He and the others had discussed what they would say the details of the accident were and they decided that for the story Diego had been in the seat next to Ben and had been the worst injured of those that survived.

It seemed plausible enough.

He certainly has a good scar to show. Plus they are trying to lie low when it comes to their powers for now so he can't very well tell people he'd gotten the scar when he hadn't changed the trajectory of a bullet fired at him far enough.

Especially when it was his father who'd pulled the trigger.

She looks at the scar that goes from his cheek over his ear. “Ooohh, that looks like it was bad.” She winces.

“I wwwas luck, my brother Ben was next to me... he was killed.” Diego says very seriously.

Her expression softens. “I'm so sorry.”

“Thanks...”

He can still see in his mind, his Ben the one killed on a senseless mission and not in a car accident, laying too still on the blood soaked ground.

It still feels raw to him. He blinks and tries to refocus.

“Lets go order, I'll buy” His voice is strained with emotion.

“Ok... yeah” She offers him a small smile and lets him lead the way to the counter. “Were your other siblings ok?”

“What?”

“Were the others in the accident, were they alright?”

“Yeah, yeah they were fine... they're fine.” He reassures himself too, there are all fine, through two apocalypses and whatever this is now, they're fine.

“Good, that's really good.” she nudges his arm and knocks him out of the thoughts he's getting lost in and they step up to the register for their turn to order.

She orders her machi... mocha... macha something, Diego tries to wrap his head around it.

He'd asked a couple siblings their thoughts on what to get this time... not Five, he's not drinking black coffee. He orders a vanilla chai latte.

They wait at the end of the counter for their drinks.

They are both quiet, Diego's trying to think about something to day. Eudora comes up with something first. “So what's it like being a private detective?”

He thinks for a moment.

“Honestly... boring mostly. It really is a a lot of following cheating spouses and taking pictures.” He shrugs and takes their drinks from the barista with a nod.

Eudora points out a table and he continues his answer when they get to their seats. “But sometimes things get rough, sometimes while staked out waiting for a deadbeat husband a home invasion starts taking place the townhouse over.”

“No way, did that really happen?” She asks like she doesn't believe him.

From what he's seen since being here in this timeline crime is no better here than where he came from, so it totally could have happened.

“Yep.” he sits back and tries his drink. It's alright, he thinks he might actually like the green one Patch ordered for him better.

“So what did you do?” She takes a sip of her drink and makes a face, it's apparently too hot, she takes the lid off and blows on it.

“I went in and stopped it.” He says proudly. That is something he's done in his life he's proud of. He's been a hero, he's helped people.

“You went in?!” She exclaims.   
  


“Someone had to.” He points out.

“Yeah but that's not your job.”

Now that does sound like the Patch he knows. “I can handle myself.”

“Didn't you get stabbed by an old man? Wasn't that the story behind the stab wound?” She purses her lips and gives him a look.

“That was a cheap shot. How was I suppose to anticipate that?” He knows he should have known, he really should have anticipated it from good ole Reggie.

“Got a little too cocky for your own good it sounds like.” Patch teases.

“Yeah yeah, well I stop the home invasion.”

Patch sighs. “You're probably the only person who would have... this city is a mess, the cops certainly wouldn't help.”

Diego furrows his brow, Eudora's not a cop in this timeline and apparently she doesn't have a very high opinion of them.

“Why'd you become a reporter?”

She gestures with her coffee cup. “You remember when we were growing up, crime was really bad in the city, not that it's much better now, no one seemed to be doing anything about it. My family would watch the news reports every night and the cops would have one excuse after another about why they hadn't solved the case or why robbers got away.

It was always the newspaper reporters who asked the tough questions and demanded they do something. I guess I just really felt like it was a noble calling. Not that I'm getting to ask anybody any tough questions as a part time community page reporter but maybe someday.”

She takes a sip of her coffee and continues sounding a bit bitter “Now of course there's the Sparrow Academy fighting crime, and the crime reporters are all fawning over them. I'm not crazy about that, masked vigilantes don't seem to be an answer either.”

Diego's doesn't know if she should feel vindicated that she doesn't like the Sparrows or concerned by her feelings on vigilantes. He tries to shake it off, she was never crazy about the work he did and he's not doing it right now anyway.

He drinks his chia and asks her another question “What kind of stuff are you reporting about?”

“Well I've been writing a story this week, there's been a number of house cats going missing recently it's been sort of interesting. No one knows what's happen to them. I have a theory a coyote or a bobcat got them.”

Diego tries not to laugh. “Hum... do we have t those around here?”

“I know, I know it's a little far fetched.” She rolls her eyes. “It's probably like somebody's illegal pet alligator that got to big for their bath tub so they let it loose and it's living in the sewers and eating people pet cats.”

Diego snorts. “Yep probably.”

She laughs too then looks at him intently “Hey, your stutter is better today! What's that mean?”

She looks curious but not judgmental, he appreciates that, even though the question is a loaded one.

Some people jump to conclusions about his stutter.

They always have.

Like if he has a good day where his stutter isn't that noticeable one day they think he should have a good day the next day too and if he doesn't have a good day and control his stutter than it must be something he did wrong, some failing on his part.

In his experience it doesn't work that way, he can do his best to control the stuttering, to minimize it, to get the words out fluidly but some times he's just going to have bad days.

Diego nods and looks down at the tea in his hands. Today is a good day but he's really not got an explanation for why. “Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, it happens... it was pretty good for a while and then it got kinda bad, now...” He shrugs, who knows, it might get bad again tomorrow.

“Do you know why?”

He sits back and nudges his cup on the table absently.

“Sometimes it just acts up. It's not always clear why.” He looks down at his hands and wishes it was appropriate to hold one of his knives as he waits for the backlash that usually comes, the 'what if you try harders' and the 'there must be a reasons.'

She hums and seems to consider what's he's said. “Is there anything I can do to help when it acts up?”

He looks up at her and blinks, surprised, she's looking at him so genuinely it's hard for him to hold eye contact.

Diego clears his throat, he doesn't mean to get emotional but it's not a question he's gotten often in his life. “hum... just be patient, I guess.”

“Right of course,” she nods and smiles behind her coffee cup. “makes sense.”

He thinks about the many times Reginald or one of his siblings when they were young tried to rush him or talked for him or over him or just told him to stop talking.   
  
He looks for anything else to talk about. Something not so personal.

He sits up again. “Did you hear about the fire that happened on South Division St last night?” Topical was probably safe, he figures.

“Oh yeah, terrible, my cousin Linda lives close to where it happened, she said the smoke was crazy. The paper said it was bad. It was right by the park. Moore's Park, do you know it? My family, Aunts and Uncles and cousins all used to go picnic there when were were younger.”

Diego thinks he may have stopped a mugging there once but he'd never spent any time there during the day. He shrugs and shakes his head.

“It's a really nice place, they've got picnic tables and swing sets. It was like the only place my family could all get together at once, there were always so many of us. I've got like ten cousins on my mom's side of the family. I bet you had really big family gatherings, how many cousins do you have?”

Diego isn't sure her logic tracks because “I don't have any cousins...”

“How do you not have cousins, you have five siblings.” She looks at him surprised.

“I don't know, we're adopted and I don't remember ever meeting any extended family.”

He and the others hadn't really talked about this of the backstory, whoops. He guess he'd have to explain it and they'd just have to accept the story he comes up with.

Something in him just can't seem to call these people he didn't know 'mom ands dad' so he continues “the hum Harrisons just seemed to only have one another, maybe that's why they decided to adopted so many kids, they didn't have any other family.” He shrugs.

Eudora looks sad for him for really the first time. He knows she was close with her extended family in the other timeline, it sounds like she is in this one too. “So no grandparents? No Aunts or Uncles? What happened to them I wonder?”

“I don't know,” He never had any extended family at the Academy growing up either, he knows how he felt about not knowing or hearing about any of Reginald Hargreeve's family. Part of him had always felt like he was missing out on something, but he wouldn't have asked Dad about it. “I was twelve when they died, I just never got around to asking those questions.”

“What about your older siblings? Would they know?” She's definitely interested now, a detective... no, a reporter tracking down a story.

Diego confidently shakes his head. “Klaus is the oldest and he's so f f far out in left field most of the time that even if he did know I don't know that I'd get a satisfactory answer from him.”

“Well who's next oldest?”

“Allison, I don't know if she would have been interested in knowing, she was always kind of into her own thing as a kid unless she got something out of it. I don't think she would have asked.” He continues down the new age orders. “Then there's Luther and he would have cared but he probably wouldn't have thought to ask, if they had told him he would have made sure we' all knew. That's it...” At least on paper, he couldn't tell her Five was technically older than him.

“So three older siblings who don't know, who else is there would they know?” She purses her lips, Diego can see the wheels turning behind her eyes.

“Vanya's a few months younger than I am, she was always really quiet, I don't think she would have asked or done anything to draw attention to herself. And Five, he was just a baby when they died.”

“Hum... sounds like you'd have to go to the library or archives or somewhere to find out if there are any other Harrisons out there, I could help... I love a good mystery!”

Diego's pretty sure he's not going to do that. He's really not interested in finding out any more about the Harrisons, that part of their Commission assigned backstory could stay vague and frankly it was more realistic that way anyway.

“I'd rather get in the ring with you.” He suggests with a smirk.

“What, you want to go do you?” She looks at him slyly.

“Yeah I want to see some skills.”

“You won't have a chance to see anything, I'm too fast, you'll be seeing the mat.”

“Oohhh you talk big.” They're both playing up the smack talk. “We'll have to see if the skills match the mouth”

“Any day any time.” She teases.

He's about to tell her he'll take her up on that when there's a crash in the back.

Somewhere behind the counter a barista dropped something that sounded like it shattered.

Always on guard and hyper vigilant, Diego is on his feet in a second scanning for the danger.

“Whoa, whoa Diego, whoa...” Diego hears Patch but he doesn't turn back to her until she touches him arm.

He turns sharply towards her. Luckily he has some self control and manages to sheath the knife he'd pull.

“It was just an accident.” She looks at him worried.

He looks around the room one more time. Everyone else's attention seemed to have gone towards the sound too so no one is concerned with him. Which is good.

He slides back into his seat and looks at her apologetically.

“How much caffeine is in your drink?” She raises an eyebrow at him but she doesn't seem too concerned.

“sorry.” He knows he just acted really jumpy, his reflexes wound a little tight.

“I guess when you get surprised stabbed by an old man loud noises make you nervous.”

Or when you get trained by an old man to be ready for any threat. “Yeaahhh” He chuckles nervously and they finish their drinks like nothing happened.

* * *

They part ways back at the Gym. She promises to call him tomorrow and says good night.

Diego walks back to the van replaying the whole afternoon over in his head.

He unlocks the driver's side door and is about to get in when there's a sudden voice and Diego's instincts kick in for the second time today and he's suddenly got a knife in his hand.

“Soooo how was it?” Klaus comes around from the back of the van.

“Klaus what the hell?” Diego sticks the knife back into the hidden sheath at his side.

“Can't a big brother watch out for his baby bro?” Klaus says gesturing dramatically with his arms open wide.

“I am so going to kick your ass.” Diego grumbles.

“I think I can outrun you at the moment with that bum leg of yours.”

“You can't outrun a knife.”

“ahh bro, not cool, you of all people should know what a serious threat being stabbed is.”

“Get in the Van.”

“Can we go to the store?”

“We just went to the store earlier.”

“I thought of something else I need.”

“f f fine.” Diego rolls his eyes.

He wonders if he could get his hands on a nerf gun and practice projectile control.

He hasn't practice with something other than knives in a long time.

Might be fun wth Klaus as the target.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They head back to the Coffee shop for a third date/not date. Lots of talk about serious things and some date crashers show up.

When Diego walked into the gym this Wednesday afternoon to met Patch he didn't envision it going quite like this.

He got cornered by Al practical when he stepped in the door and now Al's got his arm around him while he shows off the gym's wall of fame.

Al's pointing out the pictures and the news articles hanging in frames around the wall. Diego is feigning interest while trying to look around and locate Patch.

If he knows her, and he kind of does, she's probably around the corner laughing at him.

He notices the kids from the other day are watching them and they've multiplied.

Some of the adults in the gym are starting to notice Al's got someone he's showing around and seem to be looking to try and see who he is.

“Hi Diego”   
  


He breathes a sigh of relief when Patch finally shows up. “Patch, hey!” He tries to play it cool while also hoping his eyes say 'save me.'

She smiles devilishly at him and his eyes get wide.

“Hey Al, did you show Diego the trophy case?” She asks with a gleam in her eye.

“Oh yeah, good call Patch, come on Kid, I got to show you.”

Diego narrows his eyes at Eudora and lets Al lead him further into the gym.

“Take a look at this would yeah, the last three years straight we had fighters win the city title.”

Diego looks at the glass case in the corner that Al is pointing at. There are indeed three cups in a row front and center along with other trophies and ribbons. “That's great, hum... really great.” Diego tries to be polite and not show how totally awkward he feels right now being shown the gym but his former boss.

“Hey Al, who's this?”

Diego know that voice.

He turns to see a big, not quite as big as Luther but still big, fighter.

Diego holds back a sneer.

Most of the guys at the gym were at least halfway decent to him when he was in his handyman/ custodial role but not this A-hole. This guy had always looked down his nose at him.

And the Prick is doing it now as they stand there without even knowing who Diego is. He thinks he's so much better than everyone else. Diego can't stand the guy.

“Hey yeah Tommy this is Diego Harrison, I'm showing him around the gym, he's thinking about working with us.”

Diego blinks at Al, he doesn't think he's ever said that, the old man must be wishful thinking or playing an angle or something.

Tommy the jerk looks Diego up and down.

Diego doesn't let his glaze lower or waver.

“Doesn't look like much to me.” Tommy comments snidely.

Al sputters. “That's no way to talk to a guest Tommy.”

“Yeah Tommy.” Diego takes a step towards him, he's not going to let this entitled fool try and intimidate him.

Patch must sense something's happening because she comes around the corner and shoos the kids away. “Tommy aren't you scheduled to spar with Mario in like twenty mins shouldn't you be warming up?”

Tommy doesn't turn to look at Patch he stares at Diego. “The Kraken,” He scoffs. “I'll believe it when I see it.”

Diego's fingers twitch, he can see this guy is itching for a fight.

Diego feels the punch coming before he sees it, the dumbass is trying to prove something by sucker punching him.

Diego ducks the punch and steps back and away from Tommy. He stands ready for an attack but has sense enough to know not to attack himself.

Al throws his hands up putting himself between the two men. He shouts at Tommy while Patch looks like her jaw might hit the floor.

“What do you think you're doing? What was that suppose to accomplish. You can't go around throwing cheap shots like that you simpleton!” Al shouts and Tommy backs down and puts his hands up. “You're damn lucky he's as good as he is and you didn't touch him. Now get out of my sight.”

Tommy grumbles at Al and glares at Diego as he heads back into the gym practically stomping the whole way.

Diego straightens up.

Al mutters under his breath and then turns to face Diego. “Sorry about that Kid, you know how fighters get sometimes.”

“Yyeeaahh I I know.” He knows how assholes can be, decent fighters aren't like that.

“Let's get out of here.” Patch prompts.

She looks unhappy about what happened and Diego wants to get out of here too. He nods and follows her to the door.

Once they're outside Patch sighs. “I'm sorry that that happened. That was nuts. Tommy's no saint but I've never seen him... I guess he's used to being the best at the gym. Or at least thinking he's the best at the gym. I just... that was ridiculous and some macho masculine bullshit that never should have happened. I'm glad you dodge it.”

He hums he's glad he did too, he's in no mood to get a black eye or a bloody nose from a tool like that guy, not today.

Patch shakes her head. “You dodged that jab like it was a haymaker, that was incredible. Seeing it in person really makes me get why Al shows all the newbies your tapes.”

“Got lucky.” Diego says as they walk.

“No you're quick, gosh I'd think you had like a sixth sense or something.”

He sort of does, a little bit, when it comes to things being thrown at him.

He opens the door for her and they step into the same little coffee shop for the third time.

“I'll buy.” He offers.

She holds her hand up and dismisses his offer. “No, it's my turn and you just got punched at so I'll buy.”

“I've gotten punched at a lot over the years, it doesn't usually result in a a a pretty lady buying me tea.” Diego gives her a lopsided smile.

She shakes her head. “Well I feel like I need to do something as an apology on behalf of the gym or something.”

Diego chuckles and shakes his head. “I'm not gonna argue.”

* * *

They get their drinks and find a comfy nook with a free table. Diego sits back and lets Patch talk. He watches her and appreciates her smile and her passion.

She talks about her sister's new job and her mother trying to find a new car. She talks about a defense class she's getting ready to teach and one she taught a month ago that had a girl in it that she'd gone to school with and how wild it had been to catch up.

“It was at her birthday party I learned that I did not want to get a barbie for a gift and I don't like brownies.”

Diego raises an eyebrow and has to speak up about that.

“Really? How … can you not like brownies?” He looks at her like she's crazy.

“I'm not a huge fan of chocolate.” She shrugs.

He huffs in dramatic disbelief. Really he knows she's not a huge sweets fan from the half sweet coffees she orders and how the other timeline Patch hadn't been much of a dessert person.

He tries not to eat lots of sweets but when he lets himself indulge it's like the best thing ever, probably because he wasn't allowed sweets often growing up. He can't imagine just not liking them.

“Can I ask you a question?” It's apparent from the tone change in her voice she's not going to ask him if he likes brownies. “It's about your stutter, is that alright?”

He isn't going to tell her no, he still tenses unsure what she could want to ask.

“So was that pause in what you where saying about not liking brownies because of your stutter?”

He's surprised, not a lot of people realize that pauses are part of having a stutter too. “how did you know?”

She ducks her head a little. “I did some reading. I was, just, you know... curious.”

In the other timeline they'd spoken about it, his stuttering, his issue. She'd been curious then too.

He'd been defensive.

He'd been defensive about a lot of things at the time. He'd left his family, he was angry and alone and trying to prove himself. He'd loved her but he couldn't talk about his stutter with her, not productively, it had been like poking at an exposed nerve.

Now, he doesn't feel so raw, it doesn't raise his hackles quite so much.

And she's been really understanding so far.

He wraps his hands around the hot matcha green tea latte she'd gotten him. “What do you want to to know?” He offers.

She looks studious, like she really wants to learn.

“So, when you paused there was it like you couldn't get the word out so you paused till you could, or did you pause and choose something else to say?”

He thinks about it for a second. “I paused until I I I could get the word out.” The other happens too, sometimes it's just easier to say something else instead of staying stuck on a word. But often, “when I'm blocked or caught I try to picture the word in my mind.”

“Does that help?” she asks genuinely.

“Sometimes.” He's not sure really why it works some of the time.

Maybe it's because it focuses him or because it makes him slow down. Maybe it's just that by the time he's pictured the word he's already unstuck, more correlation than causation. All he knows is it was the technique his mom taught him so it's what he does.

“That's really interesting.”

“It's really frustrating.” The words tumbling out of his mouth before he can stop them. He doesn't mean to whine about it, there are plenty of people who stutter worse than he does, plenty who have way worse things to deal with on a daily basis.

He's embarrassed by his admission.

“Does it bother you?” She asks.

He wishes he could say no.

But it has bothered him for a very long time and every time he thinks he's in an okay headspace about it something happens, Reginald happens or some other asshole and he winds up angry and frustrated all over again.

“Sometime.” He says quietly making another admission he's not proud of.

Diego looks around for something else to say, literally looks around the shop for something to strike up a new conversation about. He finds it and he's not happy about it.

“You have got to be kidding me.” He exclaims and looks wide eyed across the room at Klaus who gives his a little wave and Vanya who smiles.

“What? What is it?” Patch tries to follow his line of sight and see what he's talking about.

“uuugh.” He groans and sinks back into his chair. “my siblings.”

“Really? Oh!” Patch looks and sees an interesting group walking towards them coffees in hand.

“Hi you two!” Klaus grabs a empty chair and slides it up to their table. He looks at the both of them in turn. “We would have said hello when we came in but it looked like you were having a serious conversation, everything ok?”

“I I c can't believe this.” Diego puts a hand on his brow. “Allison really?” He figured she'd have more sense than to let them barge in on his date.

Allison shrugs. “We wanted to see the girl that could put up with you for three whole dates.”

Five takes a seat at the empty table across from them. “For the record I told them we shouldn't come but this coffee is decent. I can see why you keep meeting here.”

Luther, Vanya and Allison sit down too.

“So introduce us.” Klaus insists and Diego rolls his eyes.

“Patch this is everyone, everyone this is Patch.” He waves his hand in his siblings direction and then crosses his arms in front of him.

Klaus huffs at Diego's weak introduction “It's so good to meet you, I'm Klaus, I'm the oldest sibling. At the table the surly child with the large coffee is Five, the big guy is Luther, the lady laughing behind her coffee at our dear brother Diego is Allison and the one looking like she's suffering from second hand embarrassment is Vanya. Tell us everything about yourself, where did you two meet?”

Patch looks sightly overwhelmed but smiles. “Diego came in while I was working at the gym.” She tells him.

“Oh, you work at the gym, guys she works at the gym.” Klaus's acting like he doesn't already know where they met is so bad Diego thinks he might roll his eyes so hard they fall out of his head.

The others nod and smile and Luther looks awkward.

“Wow so you bumped into one another at the gym” Klaus blows on his tea and sighs. “it's like a movie.”

“sure?” Patch seems a little confused but amused by the idea.

“So you work at the gym?” Allison asks, mercifully taking over the questions from Klaus.

“I also write part time for the city paper.” Eudora tells them.

Vanya speaks up. “That must be really interesting.”

Patch nods and looks at Diego and then his siblings. He can see the wheels turning behind her eyes again and he wonders what she's thinking.

“What's interesting is you guys, Diego has told me some of your story... adopted only to be orphaned again and finding each other all these years later, what a wonderful story. I bet I could pitch it to the paper and they'd eat it up. People love a feel good piece.”

He didn't see that coming.

They all react to the idea.

Diego takes a sip of his drink and waits to hear what the others have to say.

Five insists “No Comment.”

Luther looks to Five and Allison “I don't know about that.”

Klaus blinks at Patch “ahhhh”

Vanya shakes her head unsure.

Allison's voice cuts over the rest. “Things are good now, better then they've ever been, but it was bad for a while there. I don't know it's the feel good story that you'd want to tell.”

Eudora scrunches up her face. Diego wonders if she just put her foot in her mouth again. She looks like she doesn't believe Allison.

He sets his cup down and tries to clear some things up. “The Harrisons really just adopting a bunch of kids for for the notoriety, and the tax breaks, they weren't n nice people. P Probably not the best start to a story.”

Patch looks at him and shakes her head “All the more reason it's amazing you've all come together.”

Luther looks glum as he laments. “They didn't treat us like kids more like little experiments.”

Diego stares at him, he didn't mean for them to get into all their baggage.

Klaus looks up from his tea. “They were particularly terrible to any of us who needed extra care or attention.” He adds missing the point too, Diego was trying to make things sound less appealing to the reporter side of Patch not tug at her heartstrings.

Patch looks Diego and he knows she's thinking about him.

He sighs and looks away.

Klaus must pick up on Diego's sudden discomfort because he quickly adds dramatically to lighten the mood.

“I have webbed toes I need special shoes I can't help it.”

It works, Diego snorts.

Patch is still curious, it's in her nature to question. “So Klaus you're the oldest then it's Allison, Luther, Diego, Vanya and Five? Hum Five because he's the fifth? no wait he's the sixth isn't he.”

“He was actually the seventh, Ben was the same age as Klaus but he passed away when our parents did” Allison explains.

“Oh my goodness I forgot, I'm sorry. Diego did tell me about the accident. I can't imagine loosing a sibling that young. I'm sorry for your loss.”

“It was hard.” Allison nods.

“We miss him.” Vanya admits.

“I'm sure.” Patch commiserates. “After the accident you all got split up right? How in the world did you all find one another again?”

Five clears his throat and speaks up. “Actually when we were put in foster care I was with Luther and when he aged out after a couple years he petitioned for custody so actually he's my guardian.”

“Wow, that's amazing.” Eudora says and Diego knows she means it.

“I was teaching violin to kids and was asked to do a lesson for students in public school and the name Five stood out.” Vanya explains.

“Luther tracked me down in Law School.” Allison tells her part of the story.

And Klaus tells his. “I was studying Philosophy with Allison's friend and we got to talking, next thing I knew she had found me.”

“We saw Diego on the news.” Five adds matter of factly.

“Oh because of his boxing?” Eudora guesses.   
  


“No, well kind of but no,” Klaus waves his hand. “because his birth mother was murdered.”

Patch's mouth hangs open and Diego realize that Klaus may not have delivered that part of the story just right.

She looks at him and it's like she doesn't know what to say and she's trying to process what she's just been told.

When she speaks it's like she's kicking herself. “I didn't look you up when we met, it felt like it would be an invasion. I knew I'd heard of you and I knew Al definitely knew of you and I figured he would tell me if you weren't a good guy or something. I knew you were a good boxer and that you didn't fight anymore.” Her eyes get sad. “I remember that story when it was in the news... the boxer who's birth mother was held hostage to blackmail him into throwing the fight, my heart broke for you. I never put two and two together... my goodness, Diego I'm so sorry.”

Now Diego doesn't know what to say, it's his backstory but it's not really his story. He's sorry it's making her feel sad. He deflates a little in his seat.

This afternoon has been emotionally draining.

“It was a tough time.” Is all he feels like saying, he hopes it's enough.

She nods. “I'm glad you all found each other again. That you're able to be together.”

They all agree and nod and sip their drinks and try to make small talk and get past all the serious stuff they laid out, Diego figures he won't run his siblings off just yet, like how much more damage could they actually do and at this point it was kind of nice to have someone to take the attention off of him.

Klaus is explaining the difference in the philosophies of Descartes and Locke and their ideas on the soul to a number of groans when one of the baristas comes up and hands Luther an envelop.

He thanks them, surprised, and opens the envelop. Diego knows in his gut the only person who would have sent a letter like that. His gut feeling is confirmed by the way Luther's eyes get big and concerned.

He starts to tell them what it says and then sees Patch looking at him intrigued. “The Spaa... the, hum, spare kids are coming.” He tries to cover.

“The spare kids?” Patch asks confused.

Diego scrambles to explain Luther's flub. “The ah ah other orphans at the hum foster home.”

Patch looks taken aback and upset by the idea. “Oh my god, did they call you spare kids? That is really not ok.”

“No, no it's fine, it's ah ah just something we have to deal with, me and the others so I've got to go.” He tries to explain as they all get up and she's left sitting there.

“Oh ok,” she looks at all of them and focuses on Diego concerned. “Are you alright, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, don't worry, it's really n nothing.” He tries to play it cool but he really doesn't know what's about to go down.

Diego bends down and kisses her quickly and lightly on the lips. “I'll call you.”

She blinks up at him for a second “You better.” She smiles slyly in a way that says if you don't call I'll come find you.

He gives her a nod and moves to catch up to his siblings, he can't help but glance over his shoulder practically the whole way out the door.

He hates to leave her sitting there but he can't exactly tell his siblings to go deal with Dad and the Sparrows on their own.

He almost walks into the back of Klaus when they get out onto the sidewalk.

“Did you just kiss her?” Klaus asks him excitedly.

Diego blinks, surprised like he just realized what he did. “Damn, I just kissed her.”

Well at least, if he gets through whatever this is they're headed to, he won't have to fret about their first kiss.

He's already gotten it out of the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this. 
> 
> I've got a couple other things I would like to write for this series. More Siblings and Diego, Eudora and Diego, maybe the gym kids and Diego just I need more Diego so I'll be seeing if I can put something more together soon. 
> 
> Thank you for your support and comments they really do help this writer!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for Reading!!! Do say hi! Reginald Hargreeves is an Asshole, Commenters are Awesome!!


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